True Discipleship

Jesus shows us here what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. See, this man understands that this man is truly God! However, he did not want to fully believe. The reason is quite tragic. Believing in Jesus meant giving up the pleasures and the wealth of this world and giving everything to God in faith. The man was wealthy! He had achieved great things and success was his on this earth and now Jesus is telling Him, that is great, but give it all up for I am greater. This is the part the man could not fully understand or get behind. His wealth, the things of this world, the pleasures that his wealth and power brought him, the stability that comes from those things, had too great a hold of Him. Jesus is God and He knew what was keeping this man from faith. He knew what the man’s answer would be. He knew what this man’s wealth meant to him and was testing the man on the very point. Jesus’ test is “am I more important than the things of the world to you?” God wants us to put nothing before Him. He is a righteously jealous God! We are to give Him the glory, give Him the honor. Jesus also gives the warning of how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. This does not mean it is a sin to be wealthy, but it is a warning that a focus on wealth can tear us away from Jesus. To this man, his identity was in his riches. What is it that we are putting our identity in? What is it that we must work on, be willing to give to Jesus fully? This man was asked to give to those in need! Give everything! This was too much for him, he could not fully rely on Jesus, He could not fully believe in Jesus if that meant sacrificing something of his own. This is a great lesson for us to understand. Jesus wants us to follow Him fully!